MyHouse.wad - Wikipedia

Jump to content

Search

Search

Donate

Create account

Log in

Personal tools

Donate

Create account

Log in

MyHouse.wad

3 languages

Español<br>Français<br>Русский

Edit links

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Doom II map

}} (\"Veddge\")"},"composer":{"wt":"{{ubl|Sarah Mancuso (\"esselfortium\")|James Paddock}}"},"engine":{"wt":"[[GZDoom]]"},"released":{"wt":"March 3, 2023"},"genre":{"wt":"[[Psychological thriller]], [[Puzzle video game|puzzle]], [[Horror game|subversive horror]]"},"modes":{"wt":"[[Single-player video game|Single-player]]"},"platforms":{"wt":"{{ubl|[[Microsoft Windows|Windows]]|[[macOS]]|[[Linux]]}}"}},"i":0}}]}'>2023 video game<br>MyHouse.wadTitle screen of the map<br>DeveloperSteve Nelson[note 1] ("Veddge")ComposersSarah Mancuso ("esselfortium")<br>James Paddock

EngineGZDoomPlatformsWindows<br>macOS<br>Linux

ReleaseMarch 3, 2023GenresPsychological thriller, puzzle, subversive horror[2]ModeSingle-player<br>MyHouse.wad (known also as MyHouse.pk3 , or simply MyHouse ) is a map for Doom II created under the pen name Steve Nelson, more commonly known by "Veddge". The map is a subversive horror-thriller that revolves around a house that continues to change in shape, sometimes drastically through the use of impossible spaces. It poses as a recreation of a real suburban house made in tribute to the creator's deceased friend. The map draws inspiration from the 2000 novel House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and later reveals itself to be a horror game as the player discovers more areas of the house. MyHouse is non-linear and follows no particular plot sequence; its areas may be explored and completed at will in order to achieve any of six available endings. It makes extensive use of modern Doom modding features, such as portals, seamless teleportation, and scripting.

It was released to the Doom forums website, Doomworld, on March 3, 2023. Prior to its release, the author had made sporadic and small posts on the forum, detailing their progress with the development of the map; these posts act to strengthen MyHouse's backstory. Since its release it has received critical acclaim for its technical advancement, story, literary themes, and plot. It has been cited as an example of video games as literary adaptations and has been awarded a Cacoward. The game is licensed under CC BY 4.0.[3]

Plot<br>[edit]

A journal included with the map download purports to document the process of creating it. After the death of the author's estranged childhood friend, they are gifted some of his personal effects, including an old floppy disk containing an unfinished Doom map of his house. They decide to finish the house in honor of their friend; however, as they continue work, they experience nightmares and strange events (such as new material appearing in the map, despite no recollection of doing such work). The author continues to experience insomnia and progressively more surreal and impossible dreams as they work on the map.[2] They grow paranoid, and the map consumes the author's life, causing them to work on the project for days on end. At the end of the journal, the author believes that the map has become a sentient entity and that it is too dangerous to be shared. They intend to upload the standalone house without any of the mysterious new content but mistakenly post the "sentient" version.

In the journal, the word "house" is highlighted in blue, a reference to the odd formatting in House of Leaves. Other abnormal formatting and further similarity to House of Leaves are present in the diary as well.[4]

Contents<br>[edit]

A view of inside the house from 3 versions (normal, brutalist, bathhouse), looking towards the main interior area from the front door

The map's download is a link to an online folder containing a myriad of information about MyHouse. Both a standalone WAD and PK3 file are available. Despite mass adoption of the name "MyHouse.WAD", only the PK3 file contains the vast majority of the map and is said to be forcefully added to the original Doomworld post. Alongside the file itself, there are screenshots of the map, photos of the supposed actual house, sketches of various elements of MyHouse, and a journal.

The map starts in the front yard of a suburban house, surrounded by a wooden fence with a boundless plane of grass beyond it. Inside the house are a collection of standard Doom enemies. The house begins to distort as the player explores it; at first via subtle engine tricks difficult for inexperienced players to notice, and eventually by the introduction of doors into impossible spaces which grow in size as the map progresses. At first, these are simple new rooms in the house, before evolving into new iterations of the house entirely, as well as distinct, seemingly unrelated spaces. These include a "Brutalist House" concrete apartment; a "Daycare" containing a boss fight with a mural of Shrek;[1] a "Bathhouse" of water, lockers, and white swimming pool tiles; a "Mirrored House"...